Solar Panel Layout?

alliemac9 wrote:

We've been looking at pics of various mounting methods and the one my husband seemed to gravitate to involved aluminum angle mounted on the corners going down to angle mounted to the roof. Regardless of exact style, it seems like a lot of people mount using four feet at the corners. Is everyone getting lucky that their panels happen to be a length that lines up with their studs? Or are people not worried about hitting something structural? And is four enough or is it dependent on the size of the panel?

Mounting brackets:
Vertical aluminum angles straddling the panel corner is one way, and yes, it has to be bolted or riveted to another aluminum angle mounted on the roof. So this is a 2-part bracket.

I don't like multi-part items when I can avoid them. So I did what Mr. Wizard and Golden HVAC and other people here suggested - used 1 aluminum angle bolted to the side of the panel. Check the photo in my link some pages up. There is a rivet nut in the panel side, but you can also use a pin or a bolt and nut. Rivet nut makes for simpler attachment, as you only have to deal with one bolt.

To hit or not to hit the rafters:
It's better to hit them if you can locate them. If you can't, then you need more screws into the roof and/or really wide brackets to ensure sufficient area of support. I am not familiar with your MH roof, my trailer is a plywood roof. Check install by Westend, I like what he did there.

Lucky panel length:
Mostly, 24V panels are ~65" long, and this closely matches the spacing between the rafters of plywood roof. Few panels have weird shape, and 12V panels are different again. And your MH roof can be different from trailer, i.e. different spacing. Again, check the install by Westend and similar desings where they used a long aluminum angle to span over a few rafters, and mounted the panel legs on it.